I purchased my Gen I Cal Sci Medium about a year ago. I called Mark, as advised, to talk about it. He emphatically advised the Medium for my deep south, warm riding and he was right. Did give me the guaranteed option to exchange it for a Large if I desired to do so.
I asked him about the reported sharp, unfinished edges others had brought up and criticized. He said he didn't think it was a problem for some time, but the reports were increasing and he was concerned about his reputation and believed his design and engineered shields were the best in the world. He didn't want the manufacturing to spoil that in any way. He told me he was making some changes in manufacturing and adding an additional quality control step before sending out the shields for now on. He asked me to call him back with my opinion on the quality control of my shield. He pointed out some had reported very sharp edges that were uncomfortable for some to handle picking up and moving around the shield with bare hands. He wanted to address that specifically and in the past, everyone in his company only handled shields while wearing gloves. They would now have to comfortably run their hands lightly along the edges bare handed before shipping. He pointed out that polishing the edges was not an option because of reflective glare from the sun.
Well, I reported to him that my shield was fine on arrival. He said that's what current folks at the time were saying and he thinks his quality control on that issue is a success and future shields would be good to go quality wise.
He also invited folks to read about modifying their shields on his website and they could either "clean up" the edges of older shields or call him with specifics and possibly return it to him for a "clean up" and then it would be returned to the customer.
Well, bottom line, "ya pays ya money and ya take ya chances". I'm estatic about my Cal Sci Shield.
below is from: www.calsci.com/motorcycleinfo/Fairing.html#Cleaning
Cleaning your Windshield
We make our own cleaning fluid. When you buy a windshield from us, we give you a small spray bottle of cleaning fluid and a micro-fiber cleaning towel. Here's our "secret" washing fluid recipe, the result of testing about 25 different formulas:
Makes 1 quart = 1 liter windshield washing fluid 1/2 cup = 100ml ammonia (double this if you have a lot of bugs)
2 cups = 400ml isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol
1.5 tsp = 8ml car wash detergent (don't substitute dish soap or laundry detergent)
2 cups = 500ml water
We recommend using only micro-fiber cleaning towels on your windshield.
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Repairing your Windshield
Scratches in our windshields can be easily repaired with any good plastic polish. Plexus and Novus are two good brands. You can easily buy a 3 bottle kit of Novus #1, #2, and #3 on Ebay for about $10. We use #1 in house to clean and polish our windshields, and #3 to repair any small scratches that happen during the manufacturing. #2 is used to remove any tiny scratches left by the #3 process.
To repair a scratch, use a good cloth - a used diaper, or the microfiber cloth we supply is good. Rub across the scratch with #3 until the scratch is visually gone. Then rub against the #3 direction with #2 to clean up the area. Finally, use #1 to polish the windshield.
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Modifying your Windshield
You may paint your Calsci shield with pretty much anything. Paint from the rear of the shield, and preferentially use Acrylic Enamel paint. From the front of the shield it will look fantastic.
To drill a hole in your windshield, it's best to use a slower speed drill, like a battery powered drill. Also it's best to use acrylic bits, available from Craftics.com. You can do this with normal tools if you're very careful. Drill a small pilot hole in the center, 1/8" or 3/16" (3-4mm). With the full size bit, drill from the front of the shield just enough to make the full diameter hole on the front, but not all the way through. Now turn the shield over, support it on a piece of wood, and drill from the rear all the way through. Drilling from both sides like this minimizes the chances of chipping the shield as your bit completes the cut.
To cut away part of your shield, first cover most of the front of the shield with masking tape. You don't want to scratch your shield. Mark on the tape with a black felt tip pen where you want to cut.
Cut the shield with a band saw, saber saw, or dremel tool using a blade with 12 to 14 teeth per inch. Cut triangular pieces off the corners in preparation for rounding them. Or you can use the top piece you cut off to mark corner curves on your new top edge.
You can remove smaller sections of plastic using a sanding drum attachment on a dremel tool. Mark the shield first with a black felt tip pen and cut to your mark. You can draw directly on the plastic, then later wash off the ink with alcohol.
Sand new rounded corners and straighten your cut edge using a floor mounted belt sander with 80 to 120 grit sandpaper. If you don't have a floor mounted belt sander, you can get similar results by securing a hand held sander upside down in a vise and holding the windshield over that. Use a sharp piece of metal, like an open scissors, to scrape the sanded edge. This will give you the same edge as sanding with about 600 grit. Scrape with the scissors to break the sharp corners on the edge.
When making custom cuts, we use a band saw with a 12 tooth per inch non-ferrous metal blade; a floor mounted belt sander with 80 grit sandpaper; and a plastic scraping tool from Craftics, available on Ebay, Amazon, DelviesPlastics.com, ProfessionalPlastics.com or Craftics.com.
. But I called up Mark and, as I only live about an hour away, he invited me over to his shop for a custom fitting at no charge.
